Mildew growth on interior surfaces of aircraft, particularly military aircraft has been a chronic problem, particularly when these aircraft are operated in humid climates. Excess buildup of mildew can cause corrosion as well as operational damage to aircraft. Mildew can also cause accelerated degradation of paint and decals. Mildew buildup is also a health hazard to pilots and maintenance personnel. Buildup of mildew causes unpleasant odors and can be demoralizing to pilots, maintenance personnel and passengers.
Current methods of mildew removal have proven to be extremely time consuming and often inadequate. Solutions that adequately removed mildew in the past have caused accelerated corrosion to the aircraft structural metals as well as to the aircraft. Other solutions, such as ones containing sodium hypochlorite (chlorine bleach), are damaging to the environment and may only bleach the mildew stain and not remove it. Certain solutions require many ingredients, which are difficult, potentially dangerous and time consuming to prepare and use. Other solutions are expensive as well as difficult and dangerous to store.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a new method and solution for mildew removal. Information relevant to attempts to address these problems can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,097,395, 4,164,477, 4,533,487 and 5,602,090 (None of these patents are admitted to be prior art with respect to the present invention.) However, each of these references suffers from one of the above listed disadvantages.